1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a vehicle, such as a motorcycle. More specifically, the embodiments relate to a vehicle that includes an air cleaner under a fuel tank.
2. Technical Background
Some types of motorcycles have an air cleaner under a fuel tank. The air cleaner gathers dirt and dust as the motorcycle travels, and the air cleaner must be maintained on a regular basis. A motorcycle used for motocross races, in particular, gathers a great deal of dust into the air cleaner even for only a single occasion of its operation, because the motorcycle is typically operated on bad roads. Therefore, the motorcycle needs frequent maintenance.
For maintenance of the air cleaner, the fuel tank positioned above the air cleaner must be removed. The fuel tank is connected with a fuel hose used to supply fuel to a fuel injector. It is desirable that the air cleaner can be maintained without removing the fuel hose, so that maintenance is less complicated. In fuel-injection-type motorcycles, because fuel in a fuel hose is under pressure, the removal of the fuel hose from the fuel tank should be avoided as much as possible.
Some conventional motorcycles allow their fuel tanks to be rotated in the vertical direction so that the air cleaner can be maintained while the fuel hose is still connected. JP 2007-321648 A disclosed a motorcycle having a fuel tank that can be rotated upward so that the air cleaner can be readily maintained.